That scam artists are willing to lie constantly is not really surprising, but it always amazes me to see how someone can develop so many different frauds.  A press release (here) from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana describes a series of frauds by one Alan R. King, Jr., age 29, who entered a guilty plea to charges that landed him a 105-month prison term.  His frauds include:

• In October 2005, he filed three fictitious Hurricane Katrine FEMA relief claims, even though he was living in Bloomington, Indiana at the time, and received over $40,000.  The capper here is that one of the claims was with a social security number he obtained earlier after he claimed that his original number had been hijacked by identity thieves.  That’s certainly creative.
• King filed fourteen fraudulent student loan applications, and seven were granted.  He received $105,000 from six loans, but the seventh turned out to be his undoing because federal agents did a controlled delivery of the check and arrested him.
• He obtained $60,000 in car loans, used the money to buy a 2005 Mercedes, and then had the title cleared by giving a falsified letter to the state motor vehicle department stating that the loan had been paid.  He sought additional loans once the lien was removed, too.
• King engaged in various and sundry smaller frauds, perhaps just to kill time, involving credit from stores based on the identity of others and received a Pell Grant using false documents.

That’s got to be a full-time job keeping all that paperwork flowing smoothly.  King will have 8+ years to chill out in a federal correctional institution, however. (ph)